Invitation to?
by Loreley Clay
Summary: Nagisa comes to visit Rei, but he isn't home. Perhaps it's because Nagisa wasn't technically 'invited'; perhaps it's because being in a relationship scares Rei out of his senses. Fluffy cute boys with a touch of new-relationship angstiness, of course! Reads and reviews are very much appreciated!


**:Author's Note:**

**In my profile I mentioned that I write in great range, from angst/drama (see "Simple Town" and "Kaitou Neon"/"Suna no Shiro", oh my my) to fluff, exemplified by my Free! fics. Currently there are only two, both NagiRei mainly because _I ship iiit_ and I just really want to write about Nagisa! This one gets a little angsty, at least... I'm pretty proud of it. As proud of fluff as I can be! I feel like it communicates my headcanon-characterizations of these two, or at least how they would be in a relationship.**

**I hope you enjoy it! For the swimmer boys, at least. Reads and reviews are appreciated more than you can know!**

**~ Loreley**

* * *

Rei hadn't exactly invited him over, but Nagisa came anyway.

When they had taken their habitual seats in class that morning, they were in one place, and yet when they parted hours later, they were somewhere quite different. Each felt as if he had crossed a great distance in that short period of time, coming face-to-face with the other for the very first time. Their relationship was different now, wasn't it? Nagisa took that fact as invitation enough. Neither of them had quite grown accustomed to his new place; the transition was not complete. An afternoon was not nearly enough time for friends to become lovers, not comfortably—

-which was likely why Rei wasn't home when Nagisa came over, despite the latter's self-assurance that he was indeed not only welcome, but _wanted_. Rei's mother had apologized at the door, but let him inside nevertheless; she was sure that if her son had known _Nagisa-kun_ was coming over, he would never have left. From somewhere beyond the entryway, tucked away in a sitting room perhaps, waves of rumbling snores crashed like waves over an invisible shore. For this, Ryugazaki-san apologized as well, explaining hurriedly that both of her men at home were 'out'.

_Rei always goes running after school, but it's unusual for him to start this late. He seemed a little distracted… I'm sure he'll cheer up when he sees you're here, Nagisa-kun._

Nagisa had not packed anything for a sleepover— of course, he didn't see the need for anything from his home. While he was here, he was just as comfortable as he was in his own house, if not more so; here, he was surrounded by everything _Rei_. The absence of sun and overwhelming temptation of the immaculate dresser across from the bed found Nagisa changing into pajamas—not entirely his own, but instead an old track shirt overlarge on his tiny frame, and his penguin-print boxers. If one replaced this particular shirt with a swim club one, he would not have deviated from his usual nightly routine at all. He simply did not find his own shirts so lovely-smelling, and spent significantly less time burying his face in them, his arms wrapped about himself, sighing.

One thing led quickly to another, and Nagisa was soon tucked under the thin, dark covers of Rei's bed, beginning an exploration of the spartan bookshelf located conveniently behind his head. Each book was nearly identical to the next, rather thin but tall, and filled with tiny print and diagrams that forced Nagisa to squint. After a few minutes spent productively with his nose buried in the pages—long and arduous hours, in Nagisa's mind—he abandoned this venture in favor of exploring the depths of his pillows instead. There were only two, and they were both far too small for Nagisa's taste; he ended up gathering them both in his arms, pressing them to his body to create the sensory illusion that he was lying in a bed far more comfortable than this one. At least he was granted the not-so-small comfort of the fact that this was Rei's bed, where his newfound lover found peace each night, and perhaps a stray fantasy of fleeting beauty—or of a particular breaststroke swimmer. Nagisa could hope.

* * *

When Rei returned home, he found the house quiet. Two voices mixed together from the sitting-room, rumbling snores finding a curious domestic unison, rousing something between a cringe and a fond smile from the runner. He left his parents to their dreams, and went straight to the shower, shedding his running clothes and bothersome thoughts in favor of the cleansing purity of hot water.

His room was refreshingly dark, more comforting and warm than it had been in the cool evening outside. There was little evidence of tampering with any of his things, and so he did not notice—the books had been replaced with care; the clothes that had been sorted through in the dresser drawers were, if haphazardly, folded and set back in their places. They would be, of course—these were _Rei's_ things.

Surely Nagisa could be accused of having childish and messy habits on the whole, but when it came to his _Rei_, even _objects_ were treated with innocent reverence, if not all-out possessiveness.

Upon changing into his most beloved butterfly-print pajamas, Rei declared himself settled for bed. He had showered, brushed his teeth directly after, cleaned his glasses, even done a few more stretches—and, most of all, he had settled himself into a state of relative calm. Considering the stress he had gone through that day, he felt he should be quite thankful for that.

Reaching down to pull back the sheets, however, his feeling of peace left him quite quickly—that is, it fled his mind once his hand came into contact with something far too warm to be his bed, too soft to be his sheets, and—most disturbing of all— _breathing_.

Rei hurriedly swallowed a shout of surprise, covering his own mouth to deny the possibility of waking his parents. What was—what was this? An intruder in his own home, in his own room? He fumbled for his glasses on the bedside table and, sliding them onto his face, bent closer to identify his bed-thief.

-And then, his hand fell limply away from his face. _Of course._ Who else could it be, but his newfound lover, who found peace in his bed?

Nagisa had wrapped himself obstinately around both of Rei's pillows, and, remarkably, effectively took up the entire bed with the sprawl of his tiny body. Rei sighed, steeling himself for the vicious assault of dissenting voices and conflicting emotions he had battled for the duration of his late-evening run, only to find—they did not come.

He was merely watching Nagisa sleep—uninvited—and this did not bother him.

The scenes of the day had replayed endlessly in his mind, set to the rhythm of his deeply-drawn breaths, timed to perfection with theoretical calculation. _If you would please—accompany me on a… date, Nagisa-kun—y-yes, I suppose that does… make me… your—_

How stupid he had been! He disgusted himself further with each successive moment. What a pitiful excuse for a beautiful confession, an admirable invitation, a _desirable lover_.

Yet somehow, Nagisa had accepted in his overeager way, throwing his arms around Rei's neck in an ostentatious show of discovered affection, declaring that Rei was _his_ now. This had delighted Nagisa, but Rei was left feeling overexposed, dirty, and embarrassed. The happiness that had flooded his body to his fingertips and toes when he heard Nagisa declare _I like you too, Rei-chan,_ was occluded in retrospect by his disappointment in his own performance. He felt the curtain drawn, to no applause—not even a real kiss from his newfound lover.

These things that were painfully clear to him, only minutes ago-

Presently, he felt each and every one of them wash away, replaced by a warm affection for the slumbering form in the half-darkness of his room. Nagisa—he had told him for a reason, hadn't he? Because he loved him too much to keep it a secret anymore. The messy blond hair spilling onto his pillows, the gentle rising and falling of the sheets in perfect rhythm with innocent dreams, every little shudder and sigh that came with those fantasies—that was all he could see now. This was his secret, laid bare before him, without guilt or remorse. Removed from himself and his insecurities for the moment, Rei was terribly in love, and no analysis or theory could dispute or mitigate that.

Knowing such attempts would result in failure, Rei did not try to remove Nagisa from his pillows, nor from his bed. He merely slipped under the covers, carefully, gathered up the whole soft, sighing bundle that had come to visit him for the evening in his arms, and closed his eyes to sleep. Despite only being allowed a sliver of bed space dangerously close to the open air, and the edge of the pillow that was not occupied by Nagisa's head for his chin, he found his peace quickly.

Nagisa had no need to ask. He was welcome there—always.


End file.
